May 2020
Federal Data Strategy
Improving Agency Data Skills
Playbook
Federal Data Strategy Improving Agency Data Skills Playbook
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Contents
Improving Agency Data Skills Playbook ........................................................................................................ 1
Step 1 – Identify any critical data skills needed for the agency ................................................................ 3
Checklist ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Example ................................................................................................................................................. 5
Questions for further thought .............................................................................................................. 5
Step 2 – Assess current staff capacity for needed data skills ................................................................... 7
Checklist ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Example ................................................................................................................................................. 7
Questions for further thought .............................................................................................................. 8
Step 3 – Perform a data skills gap analysis ............................................................................................... 9
Checklist ................................................................................................................................................ 9
Example ................................................................................................................................................. 9
Questions for further thought ............................................................................................................ 10
Step 4 – Identify and execute ways to meet those needs ...................................................................... 11
Checklist .............................................................................................................................................. 12
Example ............................................................................................................................................... 12
Questions for further thought ............................................................................................................ 13
Metrics and Related Practices and Actions ............................................................................................. 14
Metrics ................................................................................................................................................ 14
Related strategy practices and actions ............................................................................................... 14
Appendix A .................................................................................................................................................. 16
Federal Data Lifecycle Roles.................................................................................................................... 16
Appendix B .................................................................................................................................................. 17
Roles and Skills ........................................................................................................................................ 17
Data roles and skills ............................................................................................................................ 18
Other roles and skills .......................................................................................................................... 20
Appendix C .................................................................................................................................................. 22
Crosswalk of Federal Data Strategy Practices and the Federal Data Lifecycle ....................................... 22
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Improving Agency Data Skills Playbook
Improving staff data skills will allow agencies to better harness the power of data. To help agencies
address this need, this playbook provides advice and tools to help agencies implement Action 4 of the
2020 Federal Data Strategy Action Plan
(hereafter “2020 Action Plan”), “Identify Opportunities to
Increase Staff Data Skills.” Executing the activities contained in this document will help agencies
progress in fulfilling requirements of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 in
addition to related guidance
1- 3
.
This playbook’s structure mirrors and expands upon the four major steps of a data skills capacity
assessment:
1. identify critical data skills needed for the agency,
2. assess the current staff capacity for those data skills,
3. perform a data skills gap analysis to prioritize the agency’s needs, and
4. identify and execute approaches to meet those needs.
The “who, what, and how” of each step is broken out below, followed by practical activities agencies will
find helpful in executing the respective step. These activities are not strict, prescriptive instructions that
require exact execution. Rather, agencies should prioritize and adapt the individual approaches in ways
that best apply to their own organizations. While the scope for this assessment is intended to be at the
agency level, some agencies may find it more helpful to do a more granular analysis at the operating or
business unit level, particularly when skills and mission differ across an agency. If an agency takes such a
distributed approach, a centralized body should analyze whether gaps can be filled by another part of
the organization (e.g., the analytics office can provide advanced statistical analysis to other units).
As each agency is part of a larger Federal Government community, agencies should look to one another
for inspiration and lessons learned as they identify and meet their data skills needs. Coordination and
knowledge sharing will be critical to the success and longevity of efforts to develop data skills. Some
councils that will be important for this include:
• Chief Data Officers Council
• Interagency Council on Statistical Policy
• Human Capital Planning and Resources councils
Agencies can also leverage centralized data governance bodies for knowledge sharing within the
organization.
1
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-435, 132 Stat. 5529.
2
OMB M-19-23, Phase 1 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas,
Personnel, and Planning Guidance, July 10, 2019, found at: whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/M-19-23.pdf.
3
The Evidence Act also requires a capacity assessment, which in part determines “the extent to which evaluation and research
capacity is present within the agency to include personnel” and “the extent to which the agency has the capacity to assist
agency staff and program offices to develop the capacity to use evaluation research and analysis approaches and data in the
day-to-day operations.” This can help guide agencies in fulfilling Step 2 – “Assessing current staff capacity for needed data
skills” and Step 3 – “Perform a data skills gap analysis” of this Action.
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Figure 1: Process to identify opportunities to increase staff data skills
Federal Data Strategy Improving Agency Data Skills Playbook
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Step 1 – Identify any critical data skills needed for the
agency
What? The agency formulates a clear idea of how data skills play a role in the execution of its mission(s)
and supporting leadership priorities and its functions at the present and continuing into the future.
Who? The agency’s Chief Data Officer, Statistical Official, Evaluation Officer, Chief Human Capital
Officer, Chief Learning Officer, and Data Governance Body.
How? Identify agency leadership priorities and mission imperatives around data
4
and then convene
agency staff to outline the ways data flows into and within the agency and is used to support decision-
making or otherwise create value towards these priorities. It is important to take a holistic, integrated
view for assessing data skills – both horizontally across operating units, and vertically within the agency
hierarchy. An agency-level assessment is required; however, this assessment can be performed at the
level that makes sense for the agency. If a distributed approach is used, a centralized group should
review the needs or gaps from each of the operating units of the agency and compile. A common
vocabulary for the federal data lifecycle was generated to support both this playbook and also for use in
Action 13 of the Federal Data Strategy 2020 Action Plan
, “Develop a Curated Data Skills Catalog,” by
adapting the NIST Big Data Reference Architecture
5
and linking subsequent data roles with Federal Data
Strategy practices. The framework below lays out a variety of roles for those involved in the federal data
lifecycle (Appendix A). These include data-focused roles
6
(given on the next page) and others in the
organization such as leadership and domain experts. The required data skills are given for each of the
roles in Appendix B.
4
The learning agenda development process will be a helpful resource for identifying these priorities. See M-19-23, Phase 1
Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning
Guidance, July 10, 2019, found at: whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/M-19-23.pdf.
5
U.S. Department of Commerce. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST Big Data Program. Retrieved from
nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.1500-6r2.pdf
.
6
Agency personnel in all data roles need to have a basic understanding of their agency’s cybersecurity and privacy policies that
govern data and need to work closely with their agency experts in cybersecurity and privacy throughout the data lifecycle
More information on the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 can be found at
congress.gov/113/plaws/publ283/PLAW-113publ283.pdf
